Celtics sign first round draft picks Marcus Smart and James Young

Posted by
Inside Hoops

Jul
10

The Boston Celtics announced today that they have signed their 2014 first round draft picks, guard Marcus Smart and guard/forward James Young.

Players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft are guaranteed to receive a contract, assuming they wish to come to the league right away. Therefore, these signings are standard, and not a surprise.

Smart, a 6’4” guard, was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. He was a two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection, and was also named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team, USBWA All-District VI and NABC All-District 8 teams. Smart finished his two-year OSU career with 189 steals, the second-most in school history, and averaged 2.94 steals per game in his career, a school record. During his sophomore season at Oklahoma State he led the Cowboys with 18.0 points, 4.8 assists and 2.9 steals per game. His 2.9 steals per game ranked third in the nation. Smart garnered All-America honors from the Associated Press (Honorable Mention) and NABC (Third Team).

Young, a 6’6” guard/forward, was selected with the 17th pick in the first round. Young was part of the Kentucky squad that finished runner-up for the 2014 NCAA National Championship. In the national championship game he posted a team-high 20 points and a game-high seven rebounds against Connecticut. He was selected to the All-Final Four Tournament Team and All-SEC Second Team. He was the second highest scorer on Kentucky this past season with 14.3 points and finished 10th in the SEC in three-point shooting connecting on 34.9 percent of his attempts. Young was also named to the All-SEC Freshman team and led the Wildcats with 82 three-pointers which was the seventh most in a single season in Kentucky history and second all-time for a freshman. Young increased his three-point accuracy during the NCAA tournament when he connected on 42.6 percent of his attempts and also shot 85.0 percent from the free throw line.